July 2023: New guideline for more ship efficiency
The new “MCN Guideline” – a guideline to ship efficiency – provides a clear line in the international sea of regulations. The document provides a compact overview of currently applicable regulations and reveals how ship operations can be improved and made more efficient. The impetus for the publication came from the members of the Maritime Cluster Northern Germany (MCN), a member of the “go-cluster” programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
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New exhaust gas regulations, low-emission fuels, drive systems on a sustainable basis – the demands on shipping in terms of environmental protection are higher than in almost any other industry. It is not easy for even the experienced shipping industry to keep track of this.
Against this backdrop, the northern German shipping industry itself has set course and set itself a clear goal: a compact overview is needed! The first idea came up in spring 2020, and the specialist group Ship Efficiency started work at the beginning of 2021.
This was initiated by the members of the MCN, in particular the Ship Efficiency specialist group leadership, whose expertise and commitment significantly advanced the guideline.
 Ines Jahnke, Project Manager Maritime Cluster Northern Germany:
“The demands on shipping in terms of environmental protection and climate neutrality are high. With the MCN Ship Efficiency Guide, we want to make a contribution to the transformation of shipping towards more sustainability. The guide impressively demonstrates the good cooperation between companies in the maritime sector, universities and the staff of Maritime Cluster Northern Germany.”
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Guide provides information on the state of affairs, opportunities and developments in ship efficiency
CO2-neutral or CO2-free marine fuels such as the liquefied natural gas LNG, methanol or hydrogen are just as much a topic as technical approaches and possibilities for increasing the efficiency of ships. The members of the working group have scrutinised many details, obtained information from MCN members and also external expertise from technology leaders in the maritime industry. For a quick overview, they developed their own comparison matrix with colour markings.
In a second matrix, the MCN guide also lists technical approaches for more efficiency in shipping. How much money has to be invested in a ship conversion, is it worth it and how does it all affect the speed of the ship or the operating hours? The questions and answers of the Ship Efficiency specialist group are not only available to shipping companies or about 400 MCN members, but also to consulting companies or classification societies. So far, there have been around 200 enquiries from the network and the industry, and the updated version of the MCN Ship Efficiency Guide is already in the works.
The guideline can be requested free of charge by sending an e-mail to Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz.
Maritime Cluster Northern Germany
The Maritime Cluster Northern Germany (MCN) is the network of the maritime industry with around 400 members from business, science and politics. With offices in Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, the MCN is present in the north and cooperates with local stakeholders. One of the cluster's main goals is to promote innovations and projects in the maritime sector. The MCN advises on project ideas, provides information on funding programmes and helps in the search for suitable project partners.
The Maritime Cluster Northern Germany was founded in 2011. Initially, the states of Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein worked together in the cross-state cluster; in September 2014, Bremen and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also joined. Since 2017, the MCN has been operating as an association.
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